“Caliphate,” a 12-part podcast released in 2018 about the internal workings of the Islamic State terrorist group, featured the story of Shehroze Chaudhry, a Canadian resident who claimed to have joined ISIS and participated in executions. But at the conclusion of an internal review that lasted more than two months, the Times said the episodes about Chaudhry collapsed under control.
The Times said it found a history of misrepresentation by Mr Chaudhry and that it is not corroborated that he committed the atrocities he described in the “Caliphate” podcast, “according to a note from the editor that was added to the page on Friday. from the podcast to the Times’. website.
The Times began its investigation after Canadian police accused Chaudhry in September of “terrorist activity” in connection with interviews published by “various media outlets,” according to a police statement.
Despite the misrepresentations and lack of corroboration, The Times does not remove “Caliphate” from its website or podcast applications. In addition to the editors ’note posted online, The Times adds audio corrections to the episodes and publishes an episode about the corrections. The newspaper also published a more complete account on Friday about what it learned about Chaudhry. The four-line story described him as “a fabulist who spun jihadist tales about the assassination of the Islamic State in Syria, according to Canadian and American intelligence officers and police.”
The editors’ note said the Times “discovered significant falsehoods and other discrepancies” in Chaudhry’s story during the report and took steps to confirm his account. The Times decided to “continue with the project,” but include an episode devoted to the fact-checking process and highlight what they called “significant discrepancies.”
Times media critic Ben Smith reported in October that there were concerns about the podcast prior to its release.
“Caliphate” won the 2018 Peabody in the radio / podcast category, a prestigious journalism award. He was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist. These were marks of success for The Times’ growing investment in audio, led by the team behind their daily news podcast, “The Daily.”
Rukmini Callimachi, the Times correspondent who hosted the podcast, will remain in the newspaper but will be reassigned.
“It’s going to pick up a new pace and she and I are discussing possibilities,” said Dean Baquet, executive editor of The Times. “I think it’s hard to keep covering terrorism after what happened to this story. But I think she’s a good journalist.”